Macedonian court fines suspected FETÖ supporter

A Macedonian court fined a dual Macedonian-Turkish citizen, a suspected supporter of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), for insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Turkish Ambassador in Skopje Tülin Erkal Kara won the legal battle against the suspect, identified only with his initials E.A. after the latter posted an insulting post against Erdoğan on Facebook.

The court found the suspect guilty of "directing insults towards the leader of a foreign country" in a rare ruling and ordered him to pay 24,600 Macedonian denars (approximately $4,600).

"We found out harsh insults directed against the president and his family and I personally took initiative to file a lawsuit. We represent the presidency here in Macedonia and any insult against him is an insult against [the Turkish mission]. You have no right to insult the president of another country," Kara said.

The ambassador underlined that she sought to make the case an example in similar cases. "All Turkish missions, agencies here carry out a serious struggle against FETÖ traitors and we managed to restrict their activities and this insult case helped us to silence them," she said, in reference to Gülenist Terror Group which attempted to topple the Turkish government in 2016 with its infiltrators in the military.

Kara says FETÖ used to have a strong presence in Macedonia but the embassy's efforts "confined their room to maneuver."The terrorist group, which has an international network of supporters, runs a smear campaign against Turkey in every country they were active in, including Macedonia.